I am hoping to be banded in a couple of months pending insurance approval and I have a question for those of you that are already banded.....In my current situation, I eat whether I am hungry or not and I do this a lot of the time. Like last night before bed I was watching the news and all I could think about was getting something sweet. I went to the kitchen and got a couple of Cookies and headed back to the bedroom and sat down then I stopped and asked myself - why did I give in - why did I need these cookies, I was not even hungry - so I took them back to the kitchen and went back to watching the news. As I sat there I was thinking about what had just happened and I found myself thinking enough is enough that I won't be able to do this after the band is placed and I will not fail with the band I will change my ways and be successful.........

Question - was any of you this way before the band and how did you handle the situation after being banded.

Thanks for asking the question. I've been wondering along similar lines myself:

"After being banded, how do I handle the "head" or "emotional" hunger / habits that got me fat in the first place?"

or maybe the question is not "how do I" but "can I"??

I'd love to hear from anyone with any insight or experience with this!! Thanks!!!

From my experience and many others. The band does not stop you from craving or eating cookies. Sorry to tell you this. It stops you from eating at buffets and larger amounts of food.

At first you will crave and want a lot of stuff that you are used to eating.

after a while you will notice the weight that you have lost and for me, I am so encouraged and glad that I am losing weight so, the cookie is not worth it to me. I just don't crave much anymore because I would rather see the scale move down, then not move at all.

The thing with the band is you can have just about anything you want to have. So for me....by not telling me I can't have something, makes it so that I don't want it. (Confusing but it's like this, plumber comes to fix the pipes says you can't use the water all day. Right there and then you're thirsty for water!) Anywho...the band truly has helped me rethink my eating. I'd rather make sure I'm getting the necessary proteins and fluids in before having the "junk" stuff. Do I still have some junk things...yeap I do but, it's far FAR less than the prior 41 years of my life. My 1 years bandiversary is tomorrow. I still have head hunger once in a while but then I take the time to really concentrate on it to decide if it's in my head or am I truly hunger were as before the band I'd just eat it. This tool has definately helped. I wish you the best on your band journey!

SherryW,

Happy bandiversary and congratulations on your continuing success!

I'm 25 days post op. I was an emotional eater, I ate when I was bored, I ate just to be eating. I loved food, and I still love food.

The band does not fix your head. That is the hardest thing about staying on track is your head hunger. I've learned to pick up my book "Weight loss for Dummies" and read the chapter on Head hunger when I find myself wanting a cookie.

The book says every now and then is okay, but just eat 1 cookie, not the bag. Also, a piece of candy bar instead of the entire candy bar.

Everytime I want to eat something that I shouldn't, I remind myself that I just went thru a WLS to lose weight and I refuse to fail! I refuse to sabotoge myself. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.

Head hunger is something you will always have to work on. But it can be overcome, I promise you.

There will be times that the head hunger wins, and thats okay, tomorrow is a new day. The key is - don't let the hunger control you, you need to be in control.

I wish they would make a band for our brain, then we will all okay.

Some suggestions for Head Hunger -

1. Go for a walk

2. Pull out your "before pic"

3. Ask yourself, am I really hungry, if yes, grab a light snack - SF Jello, SF pudding

4. Read a book

5. Call a friend/support person

6. Brush your teeth

7. Sip on some Water

8. Sip on some hot tea

9. Take one bite of the head hunger food - cookie, chocolate, etc. Don't overdue it

10. Keep unhealthy Snacks out of sight - they will more likely be out of mind

Good-Luck!

I was a snacker before. Now I am not hungry so I don't find myself wanting to eat. You will probably change after surgery, especially your hunger patterns. I would move to hot tea or water if you feel like you just want to eat. Good luck.

Yes, I was like that. And still am sometimes.

You will have to deal with your reasons for eating when you aren't hungry. books, therapy, journaling, talking it over, whatever. Why do you need something sweet? Are you feeling down? How else could you make yourself feel better?

A properly adjusted band will certainly make you think much less about food. But you still have to concentrate on eating only when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. It just makes it easier to deal with extraneous eating when you aren't starving all the time.

During my LONG band journey, I've gained weight a couple of times due to emotional eating so it's certainly possible with the band.

All that said, the band is awesome!